I need you now

Maybe some of you have heard the song by the popular country group Lady Antebellum, "Need You Now." Yes, I know the song is about a lost lover and is the pinnacle of sappy songs of the broken hearted. I admit that at times I've cranked this song up when flipping through the radio stations, its an easy song to sing along to. Tonight I have one line of this song playing over and over again in my head. Its the line that says, "Its a quarter after one, I'm all alone and I need you now," and no, I am not thinking about the last guy I dated. There's only one person who I find myself calling out to at what is now a quarter til three and that is Jesus Christ.

Even when life is absolutely amazing, I come to points in my life where there is a desperate need, a hunger even, for the one true God, for the only person in my life who is perfect. Tonight, my cousin is spending the night with me and for the past several hours she and my sisters and I have been up solving the problems of the world. I think if we have come to any sort of conclusion it is that there is no one in this world (that we know of) who is perfect. I will be the first to stand up and say that I fall at the bottom of the list when ranking people of perfection. However, I find comfort in one solid fact. Jesus Christ came to earth and lived a perfect life.

Its seriously blowing my mind right now!!! Jesus lived on earth and He lived a perfect life! I struggle daily with temptation, with trying to live a life that is pleasing to God. I mean from not thinking judgemental thoughts to stopping myself from cheating on a test... whatever, sin is a constant struggle. But when I begin to think of all my imperfections I find solace in that I am made perfect through Jesus Christ. Because it was for all my imperfections that He died on that wooden cross two thousand years ago.... wow.

I am just humbled by God. Have you ever had those moments? Where you begin to pray because you know you so desperately need God, and then you end up just standing in awe of who He is? In Psalm 46:10 the Bible says "Be still and know I am God." I know this is a verse we hear quoted often. But just think about it. In the midst of everything we go through, God is not telling us to give up, to throw in the towel, He is not telling us to come begging, crawling on our knees. He simply says be still. Know that I am God. Realize who I am and what I am capable of doing. Whoa.

We're Moving Forward

Let me start by saying that no amount of beautiful words could begin to describe what God is doing right now in my life and the lives of those around me. Having said that, I am going to attempt to tell you what He is doing :)

For several months now, the church, and those within the church have been struggling in a severe kind of way. The devil has just really been attacking those in the church by afflicting their health, tearing apart families, breaking hearts, as well as attacking finances. It has been rough! In turn, the church has suffered. There have been several people who have left, people who are still in the church, but with dwindling faith, and people who are pushing through, but still hurting. Lets be real, I have been waiting and praying for a long tome for God to show up and fix things. In the past few days I've had it out with God, we have had some serious talks about what He is doing, because I have not been understanding at all.

Welllllll, today God showed up and showed out. I had a conversation with my cousin and she made a comment that it is truly amazing how things can change in one day. And that's exactly what happened. Its like everyone showed up to church today expecting something from God. And oh my goodness did He sweep through that place! The worship started this morning and the presence of God was so thick, a person could have cut it with a knife, it just sat on top of everyone. Even in the closing prayer this morning, it was like everyone knew it was not over, they were still expecting more from God. So tonight everyone came back... and brought more people. It was so awesome! Even more, we had a baptism tonight! Which is just so stinking exciting its not even funny! So we were celebrating with Lauren and her family that her name is now written in the book of life, and things just got crazy! And I had this thought...

You know how earlier I mentioned that its amazing how things can change in just one day? Well what's even more amazing is how things can change in just a few seconds. When Lauren was baptized, it hit me. While she was under that water, probably only five seconds, her eternity changed. ETERNITY CHANGED! What if people could grasp the heaviness of that? They would be lined up as far as the eye could see to get baptized and to be filled with the Holy Ghost. So much can change in just a second, an eternity even.

Buuuuttt God did not stop there ( I know! He's blowing my mind!) A lady in my church has been praying for her daughter for a very, very, long time. Her daughter is also one of my very best friends, so I have been praying for her too. My friend has been out of church for a very long time and she came tonight. It was so amazing. From the worship to the sermon to the altar call, I knew that God was working inside of her. During the altar call, her daddy took her by the hand and they went up the altar together and just fell on their faces before God. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever, ever seen. Her whole family was up there praying together and then I heard my friend praying in that beautiful, heavenly language, speaking in other tongues. I wish I had it on a recorder. And in that short moment, an eternity was changed.

I left service tonight still expectant. I know that God's still not done with us. If I have learned anything this week it is that with God, its never over. Hallelujah!!!!

Its the most wonderful time of the year!

Its the most wonderful time of the year! And no, it's not Christmas, its time for CAMP MULBERRY!!!! Its coming in one week! The most awesome church camp in the entire world: one week in Hot Springs, Arkansas, with over 100 Holy Ghost-filled, Jesus-name, young people from all over central United States. Oh my gosh I'm so stinkin excited... So why have I had a cup of coffee, two cokes, and a gallon of sweet tea, and still am feeling tired, not that excited, a little worn down, and a little burnt out? Shoo.... I do not know.

However, I do not want to dwell on that for very long. Yes, I have been very, very busy. But all the things I have been putting my time into are good things and they are things that I am very excited about (well, most of them). Last night we had a girls night for the young women at our church and it was a really great time. We had nine girls come and we ate and laughed and did yoga and laughed and sat on the couch and talked and laughed. It was a great night. Then this morning I attended a women's conference in Lewisburg, Kentucky, where my sisters and cousin and I sang and my Grandmama ministered and the presence of God there was just sooooo amazing and it was great to be among God's people.

And you know what? All this business with the church and the church people has been so refreshing. I mean yeah, I am wore clean out. Between church, my summer classes, camp coming up, and everything that goes along with that, I have been wore plumb out, but God is still so good and he still shares with us things we need to hear.

This morning during the ladies conference I had kind of an awakening, spiritually. When school was in session I had Jesus scheduled into my day. Every day at a certain time I had me and Jesus time. However, since school has been out, Me and Jesus time just has to come whenever it is easiest for me. And most of our time together has been a lot of me talking and yelling and Him listening.... what's wrong with this picture? I'll tell you whats wrong: sometimes Jesus just needs a little lovin' from us.

We are Jesus' children, and not only that, we are his friends too. He wants us to love Him. I mean, I am preaching to myself when I say this: Don't just talk to God when it is convenient and when you need something! Take time to worship Him because he is a great God. Even when things are falling apart and going crazy and you're running around like a chicken with your head cut off or you're heart is breaking, or you feel like a failure. Whatever. Just praise God. He is so worthy of it!

Cast all your cares on Him, He cares for you.

The past two weeks of my life have been an absolute blur. Let's recap real quick m'kay? I spent a weekend in Morgantown, Ky, my sister graduated from high school, my family threw a graduation/memorial day celebration, I babysat twin, one-year-old, boys for a week, and tonight my family and I just returned from a weekend in Brownsburg, Indiana, where we sang three nights for a church's homecoming. Honestly I should've been blogging much more than I have been. I have learned so many lessons and God has spoken to me so much in these past few weeks!
So, I suppose the question is "where do I begin?" Unfortunately, for now, I think I'm going to skip all the great things that happened between the end of school and this weekend and just let you in on a few things God showed me while I was in Indiana. I am going to be very blunt in saying this one thing: There are times in this stinkin' life when you are going to want to give up on God. I know I know! Harsh! But oh so true!
Things here at the home church have been pretty sad lately. We've seen a dramatic drop in numbers and the hope here at Hope has been dwindling. I mean, it is really easy to look excited and act excited, but honestly, there are times when I lay awake at night worrying about my church folk. (Its hard work being in the ministry!!!) So what do we do? Well, I have a few solutions.
Now, I realize not all who read this blog belong to Hope Church, its ok, take these next few paragraphs and try to apply them to the situations in your own life. Here goes: the lessons I learned in Indiana.

1. God rewards the faithful. Ok, now this isn't technically something God spoke to me while I was in Brownsburg, it was more of a reminder. This is something God spoke to me when I first felt the call into the ministry. GOD REWARDS THE FAITHFUL. So when you feel like giving up on God, don't. Its that simple. Keep moving forward. Move past all doubt. Believe on Him that He will make a way for you when it seems there is no way. God rewards those who are faithful to Him.
2. Do everything in your power to be a servant. We are called to the life of a servant. Everything we do should be to serve others or to serve God. What are you doing with your life? Are you working? Give the money that you make back to God. Are you encountering people in your daily walk? Share with them the gospel. Is your worship humble? Are you going before God with a servant's heart? After salvation, as a Christian, our main concern should be to serve God. How long has it been since you asked Him what it is He needs you to do rather than telling Him what you want to do? (Shew, I'm preachin to myself!)
3. Even a prophet is without honor in his own country. Yeah, I know this one is a little weird, but it is taken from a story in the new testament where Jesus was rejected in Nazareth and he could do nothing but heal a few sick because the people had no faith in Him. Sometimes we are going to be rejected. I saw this prime example on my trip. My dad went into McDonalds and the first person he came to, he invited them to come to church and hear us sing. Now, my Dad would never do this in our hometown. Why? Because he is afraid of rejection. I am the same way! But in the Bible, we read that though the Lord was rejected, He still did whatever he could, He still healed a few!
4. Cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you. This one I got when I came home. I spent pretty much the entire weekend without my phone or internet, and though it was a great break, I was starving for connection when I got home. Still, while I was chatting with friends on facebook and texting it up with some church folks on the phone, in the back of my mind I could not stop thinking about my church and how worried I am about the situation we are in. Well, I went to the homepage of my facebook and one of my friends had posted the scripture: Cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you. Later she changed it to "Cast all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you." This really spoke to me. God cares about us!!! He has not forgotten us! If we will cast all our cares upon the Lord He WILL take care of us!

While we were in Indiana we heard some great preaching. One of the sermons was entitled, when God stood still. The bottom line of the message was that when we reach out to touch God, He is going to touch us. If you look at the story in the Bible of the woman with the issue of blood, she touched God and He immediately knew that virtue, healing, had gone out of Him. He did not command that she be healed, she just touched Him and it happened. We can touch God! We can cast all our cares upon Him! He cares for us!